


Physical Therapy with Bruce Lewis

by Nocticola



Category: Haven (TV), KING Stephen - Works, The Colorado Kid - Stephen King, The Dead Zone (TV)
Genre: 6x10 Drift, Canon Disabled Character, Crossover, F/M, Gen, Nathan's Trouble, Physical Therapy, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Pre-Season/Series 01, idiopathic neuropathy, idk if he counts, maybe? - Freeform, post episode, set after the dead zone ended and haven started, so 2007 or 2008
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-01-21 05:35:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21294398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nocticola/pseuds/Nocticola
Summary: Bruce Lewis returns to Maine, as Nathan Wuornos' Trouble is activated and he needs a physical therapist.
Relationships: Bruce Lewis/Maria Toro, Garland Wuornos & Nathan Wuornos, Nathan Wuornos & Stephanie McCann
Kudos: 5





	1. Bruce gets the job

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just binge wanted The Dead Zone recently and really enjoyed it. I really liked Bruce and thought that he's a good entry point in this crossover, being a physical therapist, which Nathan needs after his Trouble comes back.
> 
> This is set after 6x10 Drift and basically post-series for The Dead Zone. I'm unclear whether Drift was actually set in Maine or some other state, but I'm going with that latter assumption. It's not really important, I just want him to get to Haven and I was unsure what his post-canon situation is. 
> 
> This could've been a one-shot, but I ended up wanting to write various povs, so I'm not quite sure how long this will be even though I have an idea of the overall fic. I hope to update with Nathan pov soon.

Bruce Lewis is happily watching his wife Maria Toro-Lewis riding her beautiful horse Drift when his phone rings. He checks out the number and it's vaguely familiar so he answers it. Turns out it's his old employer back in Maine.

Bruce has traveled a lot over the years, from Zion, Indiana to Cleaves Mills, Maine and the past few months he traveled to different places to deal with sports injuries. It's how he met Maria, and he's happier than he's ever been. It has meant settling down and even though Drift's recent win makes it so they don't have to worry about money, he does enjoy working. He even misses it a little.

He picks up the phone, interested in hearing what he might be offered. 

”Hey, Bruce. You like weird PT cases, right?” Susanna asks.

”Um, I like a challenge, let's call it that.” His time with Johnny Smith over the past five years gave him a reputation, though Johnny's case was physically quite normal. One just doesn't bounce back from a six year coma. The visions had nothing to do with his physical therapy.

”Whatever. Have you ever been to Haven, Maine? It's quite close to Cleaves Mills.”

Bruce takes a moment to think about it. ”Haven't been there, but I might have heard about it.”

”Good, I have an interesting case that I think you would be perfect for. His name is Nathan Wuornos, a local cop who can't feel anything, physically. Who knows about emotionally.”

”What, was there an accident?”

”There was something, but no one can find a physical reason for why he can't feel anything. They're calling it 'idiopathic neuropathy'. He had it as a kid, too. He needs help functioning again physically without being able to feel himself. You interested?”

Bruce takes a moment to think about it. It does seem like an interesting situation, and this Nathan guy would need his help. But it would mean going back to Maine and leaving his new bride way earlier than Bruce would like to. ”I'll have to come back to you on that. I got married recently.”

”Congratulations! You have until the end of the day. If you take the job, you need to be here in the next couple of days. He's semi-functioning, but he needs PT and soon.”

The call ends, and Maria has ridden Drift to the fence where Bruce was watching them before he took the call. Bruce can't help the smile that splits his face as he sees his beautiful wife, and Maria smiles back.

”What's the matter?” She asks as she gets off Drift. His current brilliant smile didn't manage to hide the worried look on his face that was there just a moment before.

”Just a job offer, from Maine,” Bruce tells her.

”Are you thinking about taking it?”

”I don't know. I think I want to. But...”

”Then take it. I know the miracles you can perform, and if someone needs your help, you should give it to them.”

”But I'll miss you.”

”Well, then I might come with you. My father and Drift can handle themselves for a while.”

”It might take weeks.”

”I don't mind. You lived in Maine a long time, I want to see what kept you there.” 

”Okay. I guess I'm taking the job then.” Bruce smiles, he loves the idea of not having to part with Maria, and he really wants to take this case.

Maria leans over the fence and kisses Bruce. ”You do that, while I'll pack and tell my father.”

”Great.”

Maria walks Drift back to the stables and Bruce calls back his employer. He should probably give a call to Johnny too, while he's there. Cleaves Mills isn't that far from Haven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure whether I'll include Johnny into this crossover.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently I did have inspiration to write the Nathan stuff also today. 
> 
> The show was kinda unclear about when Nathan's Trouble came back, but it had to have been in 2007/2008, which works well with The Dead Zone ending in 2007.
> 
> If you want to read more about how I imagine Nathan getting Troubled went, check out my Between a Fight and a Kiss:
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/12324264?view_full_work=true

Nathan hates hospitals. Always has. Despite his father's protestations, Nathan knows he needs help with dealing with his condition again. He's not a kid anymore. He's in his 30s, adjusting isn't as easy as when he was seven.

It's been a few days since he got into that stupid fight with Duke. He can't believe he trusted a Crocker for even a minute. It's what got him into this situation, laying on a hospital bed, feeling numb, not feeling the papery gown he's forced to wear, the ancient sheets under his back. He can't feel anything. The only way he can know he's hungry is his stomach rumbling, he can only tell he's thirsty when his voice is weird from dry mouth. He can't trust his own body anymore. 

Getting diagnosed again was easy. He hasn't been a stranger to hospitals even after he's condition went away the first time. He's gotten hurt on the job and gotten into accidents in his own home. People know him here, and he knows them. But that doesn't help him today. Today, interns come by every hour to check on the 'numb guy'. Idiopathic neuropathy is a diagnosis, but it doesn't help him at all. All it tells him is 'there's something wrong with you, but we don't know what'. How are you supposed to cope with something like that? He doesn't even have any control over himself yet. He really needs the PT guy to arrive soon. He's glad Haven PD has good medical insurance.

He hates feeling so helpless. And alone. His father drove him here, but he's not going to take time off just because Nathan's not just willing to tough it out. It's hard to do that when he can barely walk or eat by himself. He needs to learn how to function on his own with a body he can't feel or trust. He needs to at least know how to walk by himself. He knows that once he's done here he has to stay with his father a bit longer, and he hates it. He knows there is something his father won't tell him about his condition, but he doesn't know what. He's never been able to understand his father, and the feeling is mutual. 

Being alone in the hospital makes him think about his mother. When this happened to him the first time, his Mom never left his side. She was there through every accident and injury. And he was there, in the end, when she died. He really hates hospitals.

His thoughts are interrupted by a knock on his door and Nathan turns to look. He sees a tall black man in scrubs. 

"You must be Nathan Wuornos. I'm Bruce Lewis, your physical therapist. Nice to meet you." 

Nathan just nods before sighing from relief. Finally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure when I'll get into the physical therapy part and update this next.


	4. Steph's Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephanie McCann goes to the hospital to visit her friend Nathan Wuornos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter doesn't have anything to do with The Dead Zone, although Bruce is mentioned. Instead, I recently read The Colorado Kid book that Haven is based on and I really liked Stephanie from the book and she's also in the original pilot script for Haven. I wrote about her coming back to Haven in Heir to the Herald (https://archiveofourown.org/works/22099819/chapters/52969069#workskin) and I thought that this would be a good fic to write some backstory, since the timeline of that other fic works with this one. 
> 
> I will go back and write the nitty gritty aspects of Nathan's physical therapy with Bruce, but you write with your inspiration.

Stephanie is feeling a bit uncertain about going to visit Nathan. She knows that he's not in the hospital directly because of the fight he had with Duke. It was a long and nasty one, but neither one managed to really hurt the other. Physically, at least. Emotionally is a whole different thing. 

She's not quite sure why Nathan is in the hospital but she's getting more used to these types of unexplainable things. She's writing about them almost daily these days. But it's different when it's someone you know. When it's your friend. But she knows he needs her support. Lord knows he has no other friends, and his father is going to be even worse than he's been up to now. She just has to suck it up and be there for her friend. No matter how weird it seems.

But she still feels like she should prepare for the visit. Which she did by doing what she does best: research. She heard about his diagnosis of 'idiopathic neuropathy' from somewhere or other and she did her best to know what she's in for. Unfortunately, the answer is 'who knows?'. Something is wrong with Nathan's nervous system, but no one can tell him what. And it's not the first time. One thing that she did find during her research was an article from 1983. In February, when Nathan was 7 years old, he hit a tree while sledding and it took his capability to feel with it. Somehow, his sense of touch came back a few years later. No one can explain either event.

Stephanie's journalist brain wants to ask Nathan a bunch of questions, but she knows him well enough that that is a huge no-no. But a part of her is not quite sure how else to deal with him. Sometimes, she's much better with writing about things than she is with people. 

But despite her misgivings and issues, she still goes to see him. She steps into the room and takes a moment to take Nathan in before she announces her presence. The aftereffects of the fight are still there on his face, though they are already fading. Nonetheless, Stephanie hates seeing them. But the bruises are nothing compared to the lack of emotion on Nathan's face. Nathan has often been good at hiding his emotions, but this seems different.

Stephanie knocks on the slightly open door and tries to smile normally at Nathan, "Hi!" 

Nathan turns to look at her and he tries to smile, before turning to look at his hand to make sure he's waving at her. 

Stephanie comes to sit by his bed and suddenly she doesn't know what to do. Nathan has always been a bit awkward but friendly, and if things were normal she'd hug him or touch his hand. Both gestures are useless now, and she sees the apprehension on Nathan's face over her closeness. It hurts her heart to see him like this. 

"I saw Duke. I can see he got as good as he gave." She's not quite sure complimenting Nathan on his fighting skills is the right course of action but it's the first thing that comes to her mind right then and she can't quite stop her mouth. 

Nathan turns away from her and she supposes some of his movements are still more automatic than strictly controlled. "Don't want to talk about Duke." 

Nathan's voice is slightly slurred, with overly particular enunciation. She wants to ask whether he can feel his tongue but she stops herself. 

"Of course," she said. She would have just nodded but Nathan wouldn't have seen it. 

"How are you?" It feels like a useless question but it's what you ask from people in the hospital. 

Nathan turns towards her again slightly and looks at his shoulder as he half shrugs. "Getting better. Bruce, my PT, is trying to get me to trust my body again. But it's hard." There are gaps between most of the words and Stephanie is not sure whether the issue is physical or just in Nathan's head. Does he worry about everything too much or does the numbness actually affect him this much? Probably hard to tell. 

"He sounds smart."

"He's annoying," is what Nathan says grumpily and Stephanie laughs a little. 

"Sometimes you need to be annoyed. He probably knows what he's doing. Trust him, and trust your body. It's done this before." 

Stephanie knows she shouldn't have said that last bit. Now Nathan knows she read about his childhood accident. She sees the moment of realization and the way Nathan shuts down. 

Silence falls between them, and it's not the good silence she's gotten used to with Nathan. She's not sure how to fix this. 

"You'll get back to as normal as you can soon enough. And let's face it, your normal has always been a bit weirder than most people's," she tries to sheer him up with a bit of teasing because that has been successful in the past. They have a bit of a sibling thing going on, though she's glad not to have Nathan's father.

Nathan does try for a smile again. 

"You can talk about this if you want to," she continues. 

"It's literally nothing," Nathan counters, and now his face is full of apprehension. So much so that he is biting his lip so hard that it starts to bleed. 

"Oh, Nathan," she doesn't manage to hide the pity in her voice. 

Nathan looks annoyed and based on where she is staring he smacks his whole palm over his mouth and it comes back bloody. Nathan says something that sounds like swear words but Stephanie can't make out the actual words. 

"Can you," Nathan asks with a frustrated desperation in his voice and it only takes Stephanie a moment to realize he wants her to press the nurse button, which she does. 

As the nurse arrives, she gets off her chair, "I'll came visit you again." 

Nathan nods at her, and Stephanie hates it but she's glad to get away from the room with Nathan's slightly bloody face. 

*** 

She goes back to the Herald, feeling upset. There's a knot in her stomach but she doesn't quite know what it means. Seeing Nathan like that wasn't fun. But somehow it feels like more than that. 

"Hi, Stephanie. I have another article for you," Dave tells her as she sits down at her desk. 

She looks over the details. A weird crack opened up around the harbor. "What caused it?" She asks Dave. 

Vince and Dave share a look that Stephanie is starting to recognize as 'Should we tell her the truth? ' Today the answer seems to be 'no'. 

"It was a localized earthquake," Vince tells her and she could almost believe him. 

"In Maine?" 

"Yes." 

Stephanie sighs. She makes a few notes before leaving the office to interview her witnesses. 

*** 

That evening Stephanie sits at the Rust Bucket and thinks about her situation. Is this what she wants to do with her life? Write about stories without real answers, lying to people about what's really going on? While being lied to herself a lot of the time. The Teagues brothers do trust her, she knows that, but not with everything. 

Seeing Nathan, her friend, like that, helpless, learning how to function again with a body that he can't feel? She thought Haven's weirdness was interesting but she is starting to have second thoughts. 

And then there's Duke. She thought she was starting to know him. She thought Duke could be dating material, or at least worth a bit of a fun time but... Was she wrong? Is Duke just a user? Taking advantage of people to get what he wants, no matter what? Is she that bad a judge of character? 

Is Haven what she really wants? She thought it was. Now, she's not quite sure.


End file.
